White House: Sequestration And GOP To Blame For Dismal Jobs Numbers

I had previously anticipated that the media were going to spin the lousy jobs numbers to make them look wonderful by fixating on the unemployment percentages and ignoring all the people who have given up looking for work. That’s what they usually do to make Obama look like a great economic hero. But silly me, I forgot about sequestration.

Since we’re living in a sequestration-ridden America, the White House wants to blame everything bad that happens on sequestration. They’re trying to punish those Americans who believe in smaller government by cutting the worst possible places.

Whenever I think of sequestration, I think of a mother instructing her child to do an easy task like cleaning the kitchen. Naturally, the child doesn’t want to clean the kitchen, but begrudgingly complies and proceeds to stack dishes very precariously, making sure to make as much noise as possible, dropping silverware on the floor, all the while huffing and puffing and trying to make it look as difficult and inconvenient as possible. The unruly child is hoping that his mother will say, “OK, fine. If it’s so difficult, I’ll do it.” Of course, a wise mother would never fall for that.

Our government (or more specifically, the Obama administration) is like that child. Sequestration is their temper tantrum. They’re hoping we’ll say, “OK, fine. You don’t have to do anymore budget cuts.” They’re trying to punish us for ever thinking that the government is too big. They’re milking it for all it’s worth. Even though there weren’t actually any spending cuts. Only reductions in growth. And there were plenty of places they could have cut before threatening to shut down traffic control towers and furlough Defense Department employees.

So now that the jobs numbers are in from BLS, it’s in the media’s and the White House’s best interest to point out how bad they are so that they can blame them on sequestration and “anti-government” types. Here’s the White House’s Chief Economist Alan Krueger:

“It is important to bear in mind that the March household and payroll surveys are the first monthly surveys to look at employment since the beginning of sequestration. While the recovery was gaining traction before sequestration took effect, these arbitrary and unnecessary cuts to government services will be a headwind in the months to come, and will cut key investments in the Nation’s future competitiveness . . .Now is not the time for Washington to impose more self-inflicted wounds on the economy. The Administration continues to urge Congress to replace the sequester with balanced deficit reduction, while working to put in place measures to put more Americans back to work like rebuilding our roads and bridges and promoting American manufacturing.”

He’s saying that the abysmal jobs numbers are a natural consequence of governments operating more efficiently.

Imagine the U.S. economy was a pristine red Corvette, and Krueger is Walter Sobchak from The Big Lebowski. While he’s bashing in the windows and headlights of the Corvette with a crowbar, Krueger’s shouting, “Do you see what happens, Americans?! Do you see what happens? This is what happens when you cut government spending!”

You get the idea. They’re deliberately destroying the economy and claiming that we’re the ones that are making them do it. Politics as usual.